When Christian Linder delivered his inaugural speech at the Treasury Department on December 9, 2021, he told the staff he wanted to run the institution as one where “loyalty, personal aptitude and dedication to the office” counted – not “partisan political background”. Anyone who has an understanding of liberal business and society is “personally likeable” to him. But in the house the principles of professional civil service and civil service counted.
But now Lindner apparently wants to bring his political will more into the house and is therefore making a major restructuring of the workforce. In the notice to his house he Süddeutsche Zeitung is available, he writes that he wants to “focus the BMF’s positioning more strongly on our political projects and give the organization a long-term strategic perspective”. Translated, this means: Lindner wants top officials who promote his favorite projects with sufficient enthusiasm.
At first, the FDP boss was rather reserved when it came to personnel. He appointed two new Parliamentary State Secretaries; these posts always go to parliamentarians from their own party. He kept the social democrat and longtime householder Werner Gatzer among the official state secretaries; He filled the other three posts – although two of the previous state secretaries had already moved to the Chancellery with Olaf Scholz. Of the three newcomers, only one was a dedicated FDP man. But now three department heads have to go, and a fourth loses his post because Department IV, which is responsible for IT, is being integrated into another.
The new appointment at the top of Department III, which is responsible for customs, sales tax and excise taxes – and thus also for combating money laundering, is interesting. Recently there had been a stir about the “Financial Intelligence Unit” (FIU), the anti-money laundering central office of customs. Lindner had relieved FIU chief Christof Schulte of his duties; previously, he had had to admit that around 100,000 suspicious activity reports had remained unprocessed.
Ministry circles say that “a fresh look” at this area would be useful. A specialist should now ensure this: Armin Rolfink, who has been working at the General Customs Directorate since 2016, most recently as Vice President. His tasks will now also include turning the FIU into a new higher federal authority at Lindner’s request.
Personnel number two concerns the tax department. It is well known that Lindner has tax policy plans. The fact that his ideas for the SPD and the Greens are unlikely to please him, too. Nils Weith is now to promote these ideas. He comes from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he has been Head of Division since 2013; first in the foreign trade department, then in the policy department. The leap from head of department to head of department is quite a big one. However, it can be heard that Lindner has known Weith for many years. Among other things, he worked for the FDP parliamentary group for a few years.
The third new top official is Oliver Lamprecht, he takes over the central department. The “Z” is responsible for the organization of the house and therefore important for every minister. Lamprecht also comes from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he was sub-head of department in the central department there for more than ten years. And: According to ministry circles, he is very close to “liberal ideas”.